Cal State San Bernardino again listed as among America’s best

California State University, San Bernardino is one of the best colleges and universities in the United States, according to both The Princeton Review and Forbes.

For the eighth straight year, The Princeton Review selected Cal State San Bernardino as one of its “Best in the West” colleges and universities. The listing appears on The Princeton Review’s website feature “2012 Best Colleges: Region by Region.”

CSUSB was listed among the select list of 121 institutions featured in the “Best Western Colleges” section of PrincetonReview.com. The schools were drawn from 15 Western states. Along with institutions designated from other regions in the country, the total of 629 U.S. colleges named “regional bests” constitute about 25 percent of the nation’s 2,500 four-year colleges. The Princeton Review does not rank the 629 colleges in order, by region or in various categories.

Cal State San Bernardino also repeated on the Forbes list of “America’s Best Colleges,” a ranking of 650 schools representing the top 20 percent of all U.S. undergraduate institutions. CSUSB ranked among Forbes’ top 100 institutions in the West, and it falls among the top 125 four-year public institutions in the country, excluding military academies.

“We’re delighted that Cal State San Bernardino continues to be recognized on a regional and national level by both The Princeton Review and Forbes, to go along with our recent worldwide honors,” said CSUSB President Albert Karnig. “These listings are a tribute to the extraordinary faculty, staff and students who continue to set high standards for our university, and I’m extremely proud of the entire CSUSB family.”

In December 2010, Cal State San Bernardino’s College of Business and Public Administration was selected by European CEO Magazine as one of only four “most innovative” business schools in the United States and was among 18 in the world earning the distinction. CSUSB was named the “most innovative school of business” for the Western U.S. region.

The Forbes ranking “focuses on the things that matter the most to students: quality of teaching, great career prospects, graduation rates and low levels of debt,” wrote editor Michael Noer on the Forbes website. “Unlike other lists, we pointedly ignore ephemeral measures such as school ‘reputation’ and ill-conceived metrics that reward wasteful spending. We try and evaluate the college purchase as a consumer would ….” The rankings are prepared exclusively for Forbes by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

The Princeton Review surveyed students around the nation and asked them to rate their own schools on several issues – from the accessibility of their professors to quality of the campus food – and answer questions about themselves, their fellow students and their campus life. Comments from surveyed students are quoted in the school profiles on The Princeton Review website.

The Princeton Review says: “Cal State San Bernardino attracts students who are ‘very down to earth, pragmatic and real,’ many of which ‘have led interesting and challenging lives.’ While most hail from Southern California, the similarities end there as the ‘population is very mixed in age, ethnicity, socioeconomic background and religion.’ Students say the diversity is one of the major benefits of their college experience, and on this open and friendly campus, ‘CSUSB represents academic integrity, diversity, and equal educational opportunity for everyone.’”

“We’re pleased to recommend California State University, San Bernardino to users of our site as one of the best schools to earn their undergrad degree,” said Robert Franek, Princeton Review’s senior vice president and publisher. “We chose it and the other terrific institutions we name as ‘regional best’ colleges mainly for their excellent academic programs. From several hundred schools in each region, we winnowed our list based on institutional data we collected directly from the schools, our visits to schools over the years, and the opinions of our staff, plus college counselors and advisors whose recommendations we invite. We also take into account what students at the schools reported to us about their campus experiences at them on our 80-question student survey for this project. Only schools that permit us to independently survey their students are eligible to be considered for our regional ‘best’ lists.”

The Princeton Review is headquartered in Framingham, Mass., with editorial offices in New York City and test preparation locations across the country and abroad. It is not affiliated with Princeton University and it is not a magazine.